Shouts and curses rose and fell, the army drums echoed with a monotonous rhythm, and one squad after another of soldiers descended from the high ground where River Valley Village was located, along the paths farmers took at dawn to the fields and returned from at dusk, heading to battlefields not of their choosing.
As the allied forces withdrew in an orderly manner, this once tranquil and isolated village returned to its former emptiness—yet it could not reclaim its past peace.
Because at the junction of the river and the village, next to the low walls villagers used for boundaries, the two infantry battalions left to guard River Valley Village were racing against time to fortify the fragile walls built from rubble.
Colonel Gaisa led men into the villagers' houses and shacks, seizing all the tools that could be of use, and then ordered the dismantling of anything unnecessary to obtain building materials.
